Physics is the study of the most general laws of the motion of matter and the basic structure of matter.

To make an inaccurate but vivid analogy, the universe is like an infinite series of numbers like [1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13......], and physics is a discipline that studies the laws of this series of numbers.

In the days when the spark of science was just germinating, when people were still arguing about 1 and 2, a physicist sitting under an apple tree was lucky enough to count 3 and came up with the idea that "this series of numbers is made up of 123456...... and so on of all natural numbers".

However, with the advancement of science and technology, so do the means of observation.

When it came to Einstein, the new-age physicist soon discovered that from the fourth position onwards was not a 4, but a 5, and that Newton's laws applied only to the first three – the so-called macroscopic conditions.

To make his theory look more convincing, he kept observing the number seventh, which is 13. Then, based on the observed phenomena, the following conclusion is concluded:

[In this set of numbers describing the universe, except for the first digit "1", which is the unique number, the following numbers should be composed of prime numbers such as "2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19......". 】

Clever children should have discovered that a series of esoteric theories such as the theory of relativity, the Standard Model, and quantum mechanics are in fact just such a thing.

It describes the world beyond the fourth digit, which is invisible to ordinary people and can only be observed with the help of specialized equipment.

That is, what people call the "microcosm" in the usual sense.

Much more fortunate than the scholar who sat under the apple tree, although Einstein only saw the seventh position of the series for reasons of his time, but until the ninth place, his theory worked.

According to the "law" he summed up, that is, the so-called "standard model", people successfully observed the numbers 17 and 19, and successively took into their arms a series of treasures such as the Higgs particle and gravitational waves.

Everything was so beautiful.

It's just a pity that this luck is not without limits.

As technology continues to advance, the Lunar Hadron Collider allows people to see numbers larger than 19, broadening their horizons to more microscopic worlds than microcosms, and even other dimensions......

At this time, people were surprised to find that in this series of numbers describing the universe, the tenth digit after 19 was actually not 23. Even in the eleventh place, it is not 29 at all.

Even the numbers 23 and 29 do not appear on this series at all, but instead they are a series of numbers that have no rules at all and do not make any sense.

And even it's not a number at all, but something like ABCD.

Can all sequences find patterns?

Not really.

It's like a string of irrational numbers.

To describe its rules, I am afraid that it would have to be as large as the amount of information itself......

Professor Miró's theory of the "spirit of the universe" may sound like the gibberish of some god, but in fact he is not describing an omniscient and omnipotent God.

What he really wants to express is that there is such a consciousness in this universe, which arranges everything in the universe according to its own subjective consciousness.

It's like a child holding a branch in his hand, humming a song that only he can understand, and writing a string of meaningless numbers on the beach.

The ants on the ground, on the other hand, follow the logic of their own behavior, thinking about what the number on the ground means and why it is there.

Rather, he preached the theory of the "spirit of the universe."

Rather, it is "the universe has spirits......

……

For the physics community, this day is definitely the darkest hour.

Collision experiments in the energy region above 5Tev are like black holes, confiscating the efforts of physicists of Earth's civilization over the past century. Both string theory and Big Bang theory seem to have been swallowed up by this black hole.

Looking at the image on the computer, Professor Witten pondered for a long time, and suddenly sighed and said.

"It's as if we've spent half a century studying the laws of the universe, and in the end it's only proven that what we're studying has no laws to speak of."

Still staring intently at the data that looked almost weird, Lu Zhou replied casually.

"Feeling unacceptable?"

Witten teased in a tone that didn't know if he was joking, or serious.

"It's hard to accept, I even kind of want to retire."

Lu Zhou: "Don't think so, this difficulty is not enough to defeat us, but if you retire, it will definitely be a loss for us." ”

"How so? There are many outstanding young physicists today, and it seems to me that their future achievements will not be inferior to mine. ”

Professor Witten smiled, his voice suddenly tinged with emotion.

"Besides, I'm almost getting older, and I was thinking about it about three or four years ago, and I can even say that if it weren't for you inviting me to help out at IMCRC, I might have been fishing in the sun on a small island in Hawaii by now."

"Really? I'm sorry about that. ”

"Haha, don't be sorry, in fact I should thank you, if it wasn't for your invitation, I would have missed out on a lot of interesting things."

At this time, Professor Witten noticed the calculations that Lu Zhou had written on the scratch paper, and his eyebrows suddenly raised with interest.

"Are you still obsessed with that extradimensional theory?"

"Sort of."

"With all due respect, there doesn't seem to be any essential difference between this and cosmic animism."

"There are still a lot of differences," the tip of the pen in his hand stayed on the paper for a while, Lu Zhou thought for a while and said, "At least, I can prove its existence in a mathematical sense." ”

This time, Professor Witten's face showed a look of surprise, as if to say, "How is this possible?"

However, Lu Zhou didn't say anything more about his confusion, but just said pointedly.

"In a normal sense, it is impossible for us to see the world outside the box when we are in the box. But there is one case that is an exception, remember Schrödinger's cat? ”

"Schrödinger's cat? Wait, you mean-"

The cloudy pupils suddenly widened a little, and a trace of intense excitement suddenly ignited in Professor Witten's originally confused expression.

"That's right, you might have guessed when I said that," Lu Zhou smiled, turned the pen in his hand, and continued, "You can imagine us as the cat in the box, for the world outside the box, everything about us is a superposition of chaos. And now, someone has opened the box and is observing us. ”

"Everything wasn't arranged in advance."

"But because of observations from outside the universe, the superposition we are in collapsed, and it becomes the reality we see now."

Looking at Professor Witten, whose brows were furrowed and deep in thought, Lu Zhou continued.

"We have no way of knowing whether the universe has a spirit or not, and no one has the right to define its existence or not."

"But one thing I can almost confirm is that something is beckoning to us outside the box."

Witten: "But it'...... Or rather, why do they do it? ”

"I don't know, maybe only it knows," Lu Zhou shook his head slightly, and continued, "Maybe it's to ask us for help, maybe it's just to declare its existence to us." ”

"Whatever they want, it shouldn't be a disaster for us in the box, it's a great opportunity."

"An opportunity to delve into the void."

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps outside the office.

After hearing the footsteps, Lu Zhou and Witten both stopped talking and looked in the direction of the door.

The knock on the door sounded as scheduled, and before Lu Zhou could say please come in, the door was pushed open.

"Sorry! A very, very serious thing happened! ”

Looking at Senior Brother Luo, who appeared behind the door with a nervous expression, the expression on Lu Zhou's face hesitated slightly.

"What's going on?"

"It's Professor Miro!"

Taking a deep breath, Luo Wenxuan stabilized his breathing.

Looking at the two of them who locked their eyes on him, he said the words that made everyone's mood fall to the bottom.

“…… He's dead. ”

Lamp pen